A week or so ago, I joined the online platform couchsurfing.org, where I stumbled upon a conversation about abandoned places in Berlin.
Driven by my curiosity about everything new and because the touristy, regular Berlin can become very boring after a particular amount of time, I met up with some of the couchsurfers the next day to go see an abandoned military casern called Panzerkaserne, a little bit inside a forrest near the town of Bernau.
We were indeed a fun and interesting group and again I was convinced that Berlin is just as international as any other place where I have lived so far and been surounded by expats day in, day out.
At the beginning I was quite sceptical about whether I should join or not. My parents always told me to never meet someone I only knew from the internet but when you join a travel group while on vacation, you don’t know anyone there either. right? Besides, it was daytime and it were supposed to be about ten of us, so I grabbed my DSLR and took the next train to the city.
The casern is indeed totally abandoned. No guards or whatsoever to be seen. Only the one or the other sign letting us know that going inside the empty military base could be dangerous due to the probability of collapse. Nevertheless did we proceed with our discovery tour, armed with absolutely obligatory flash lights and our cameras under the patronage of our funny, abandoned place loving guide, Giuseppe from Italy.
And so after a day of climbing in and out of broken windows, exploring the remains of cold war history, let me share with you the findings of that amazing trip:
Turn off unnecessary light
Christmas address by the minister of defense.
Ceiling in one of the rooms.
“We will win.”
Parcel sent to one of the soldiers serving in Germany from the UdSSR
Posters from magazines. Maybe movie starts, singers or maybe just simple people.
This is what used to be the gym.
Handbook of military drills.
Most likely stars or singers.
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